THE BG NEWS ESTABLISHED 1920 | An independent student press serving the campus and surrounding community
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
VOLUME 94, ISSUE 97
Green Space Task Force announced
“Maddi finds it upon herself to
take that EXTRA STEP.”
Mayor asked that plan designs require minimal costs
-Maggie Nowicki
By Kathryne Rubright City Editor
Mayor Richard Edwards announced at Monday night’s City Council meeting the membership of the city’s Green Space Task Force, which will recommend a plan for the city’s green space. The task force will be chaired by Eric Myers, who has previously served on the city’s Planning Commission and on the Bowling Green Board of Education. He also attends the First Presbyterian Church located next to the green space, which occupies the corner of West Wooster and South Church Streets. Also on the task force are John Calderonello and Diane Vogtsberger of Green Space Matters, a citizenled group; Brian Bushong, the city’s director of finance; Brian Craft, public works director; Dawn Shinew, associate professor in the School of Teaching and Learning; Gene Klotz of Klotz Floral Design and Garden; Dick Newlove of Newlove Realty; Lloyd Triggs, Bowling Green High School art teacher; David Montague, retired executive with World Vision; Michael Penrod, director of the Wood County District Public Library and a First Presbyterian Church member; Wendy Chambers, director of the Bowling Green Convention and Visitors Bureau; Amy Craft-Ahrens, owner of For Keeps; Lori Young, associate professor in the School of Art; and Larry Nader, owner of adjoining property. These fifteen people will recommend a plan and a timeline for implementation to the City Council’s Public Lands and Buildings Committee, Edwards said. Theresa Charters Gavarone chairs the committee, and Bruce Jeffers and John Zanfardino
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Senior rewarded for service work in time at the University By Lindsey Meyer Reporter
Maddi Georgoff was one of 201 students across the country to win of the 2015 Campus Compact Newman Civic Fellows Award. This award recognizes student’s involvement within their university and civic engagement that will create a lasting effect for both the university and community. Those considered for the award have committed their time to campus events, community service, leadership roles at their university and engaging students and the community together. “I have been a Civic Action Leader with the Office of Service Learning for three years now. With this, I plan and implement service
events on campus ... I connect the community to the University,” said Georgoff. Georgoff is also the founder and president of the BG Alternative Breaks Program. BGAB is a program with the Office of Service Learning that gives students the opportunity to travel and work with other communities and provide service to them. “The program sends students on service trips during fall and spring breaks. It is a great learning experience and you get to see other communities around the country,” said Georgoff. Georgoff said she has been on five alternative breaks throughout her time at the University and that through this program she was able to meet people from all around the US. According to the BGAB reporting document there has been a total of seven trips since the program has been created. During the years of 2014 and 2015, students participating in BGAB have served a total of 2,510 hours to the other communities they have visited. “Maddi finds it upon herself to take that
“I have been a Civic Action Leader with the Office of Service Learning for three years now. ” - Maddi Georgoff
MADDI GEORGOFF is a senior at the University and after three years as a Civic Action Leader has been honored nationally.
See GEORGOFF | Page 2
See CITY | Page 2
ALL PHOTOS PROVIDED | THE BG NEWS
FLIGHT CENTER HELPS FALCONS SOAR
Graduate student affected by ISIS Islamic terror group prevents Paris student from going home By Michaela Schrum Reporter
TRAVIS WILLHOITE | THE BG NEWS
FLIGHT CENTER officially opened on April 17, and was funded by the Bowling Green Flight Center. The center includes additional classroom space includes full-motion flight simulator, all designed to expand the opportunities for the aviation students.
CATCHING LEADERSHIP
Catcher and redshirt sophomore Trey Keegan talks about his journey from recruit to team leader. Keegan leads his team this season in batting average, runs batted in and doubles. | PAGE 3
Lamis Aljasem can’t go home this summer. Currently a graduate student at American University in Paris, Aljasem talked to University students in the journalism, communications, public relations and international studies departments about her family’s experiences with ISIS at a series of conferences held at the Paris-based university this spring. Aljasem was born and raised in Raqqa, Syria, which is the current headquarters of ISIS, a violent Islamist group that invaded parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014. Aljasem recounted how ISIS’s invasion of her city had changed her family’s lives
SUMMER VACATION Columnist Bryan Eberly says that summer vacation is an opportunity to relax. He says during this time you should have fun and not worry. | PAGE 4
from peaceful to terrifying, when a family member returned to their third floor apartment to find the lock changed. The house had been confiscated by ISIS and was inhabited by a young jihadist and his wife. Since then, some of the Aljasems have moved to Turkey but many remain in Raqqa. For those still in Raqqa, life has drastically changed under ISIS. “If [my family] goes out, they go to specific places ... it is hard for them to go out,” Aljasem said. She explained women now need a thick black niqab, a conservative Islamic face dress worn by women, to venture out of the house. If the niqab is not black or is even a little
See ISIS | Page 5
WHAT ORGANIZATIONS ARE YOU INVOLVED IN? AND WHY? “Quidditch club, because I wanted to get involved with a sport and it’s really fun.” Emily Gamache Sophomore, Poly Sci. / History